Astronomers Are Tracking Four Potential Interstellar Objects Now In Our Outer Solar System

Using detailed computer models of asteroidal-type objects between the Sun and Jupiter, two Harvard University researchers find that at least four known objects are likely to have origins from outside our solar system.

After becoming gravitationally-trapped, the four potentially interstellar objects — 2011 SP25, 2017 RR2, 2017 SV13, and 2018 TL6 — are thought to spend most of their time between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune. However, during their closest approaches to the Sun, they do pass through Earth’s neighborhood.

In a paper submitted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Harvard co-authors Amir Siraj and Abraham Loeb, compare the orbital characteristics of theoretical high-inclination objects to those of the centaurs, the most similar population of known asteroids.

“We find that there should be hundreds of Oumuamua-size interstellar objects identifiable by Centaur-like orbits,” write the authors. 1I/2017 U1 Oumuamua, the first bona fide interstellar object, was discovered Oct. 19, 2017, by the University of Hawaii’s Pan-Starrs telescope. But the authors note that there should be at least 66 possible other interstellar objects in their calculations, ranging in diameter from roughly 100 meters to 10 kilometers in size.

And all of these potential interstellar interlopers should be detectable by the LSST (Large Synoptic Survey Telescope), currently under construction in Chile.

“The Sun-Jupiter system acts as a fishing net that collects interstellar objects,” Harvard University astrophysicist Abraham Loeb told me. “ At any given time, there are a few thousand trapped objects within the solar system .”

Our paper, says Loeb, shows that by focusing on objects at high inclinations to the plane of the solar system and on counter-rotating orbits to the planets, we can isolate interstellar objects.

As for the four that the authors have thus far identified as potential interstellar objects?

“ We do not know if they are comets, asteroids, or artifacts,” Amir Siraj, a Harvard University undergraduate in astrophysics, told me. Until these objects pass close to earth again, he says we won’t be able to know. Siraj notes that of the four, object 2018 TL6 will make a close Earth approach in another twenty years.

Could they be artificial in origin?

“We do not have any evidence that these [four] objects are unnatural at this point,” said Siraj.

They pass near Earth on timescales of some 20 to 120 years so it will be another 20 years until we can photograph one of them, he says. That is unless someone designs a flyby mission that will visit one or more of them. The most likely source of interstellar objects is planetary systems that eject them during formation and development processes.

And as for Oumuamua which NASA classifies as a highly-elongated, rocky, cigar-shaped object with a somewhat reddish hue?

NASA’s Spitzer infrared telescope data rules out typical cometary activity, says Loeb. And he says it also sets an upper limit on Oumuamua’s size, which in turn implies a shiny surface, which is at least ten times more reflective than a typical asteroid.

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Dr. Albers is a former Professor of Physics with a 17-year career in lecturing and teaching. She holds five degrees in her field of study and she is currently the only outspoken scientist willing to expose Planet X and the potential damages to Earth.
Dr. Albers has published numerous books and articles detailing the scientific and observational evidence that she has uncovered since 2016. Her fellow researcher and investigator Scott C'one has been on the case of Planet X since his early college years dating back to 1990. His discoveries in 2016, 2017 and 2018 have become groundbreaking hardcore evidence of the existence of stellar bodies that have been captured by the Sun. He has also produced over 1400 videos detailing and exposing this evidence and his videos are available on his Youtube Channel Planet X News. You can also review Dr. Albers' video reports on her Youtube Channel Planet X Physicist.
Dr. Claudia Albers and Scott C'one lead the way in Planet X Research and their investigations have lead to exposing The Biggest Cover-Up in World History.

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Astronomers Are Tracking Four Potential Interstellar Objects Now In Our Outer Solar System

About Us

Scott C'one has been on the case of Planet X since his early college years dating back to 1991. His discoveries in 2016, 2017 and 2018 have become groundbreaking hardcore evidence of the existence of stellar bodies that have been captured by the Sun. He has also produced over 2000 videos detailing and exposing this evidence and his videos are available on his Youtube Channel Planet X News.
Dr. Albers is a former Professor of Physics with a 17-year career in lecturing and teaching. She holds five degrees in her field of study and she is currently the only outspoken scientist willing to expose Planet X and the potential damages to Earth.
Scott C'one and Dr. Claudia Albers have published numerous books and articles detailing the scientific and observational evidence surrounding Planet X.
Scott C'one and Dr. Claudia Albers lead the way in Planet X Research, their investigations lead to exposing The Biggest Cover-Up in World History.